Exception Verse
by sparkalie
Summary: The Guardians of Childhood are used to their charges slowly losing belief in them as they grow older. BUT! Sometimes...sometimes there are exceptions. Jack meets one of these rare few.


_Hi, this is my first shot at Rise of the Guardians fandom. I hope you enjoy it._

_It kinda bugged me that only children could see the Guardians so I wrote this short piece...well it _started _out short...about Jack meeting an exception to the norm. An adult who could see him._

Jack Frost

Jack Frost, Spirit of Winter, Bringer of Snowballs and Fun Times and most recently the Guardian of Fun, was going about his rounds, spreading snow and winter around the Northern Hemisphere.

His thoughts were, for once, not on the exquisite snowflakes he sent tumbling down but on the almost giddy feeling that filled him from the tips of his toes to his perpetually cold nose.

He had believers! Kids could see him!

…Sure it was only Jamie and the rest of Burgess's children but hey! North said that it was only a matter of time before belief in him spread to the rest of the children around the globe. _Maybe_ kids living in tropical climates would be hard pressed to believe…_unless_…

Nah, Mother Nature would _kill_ him.

Laughter and the gleeful shouting of children pulled Jack's attention away from his thoughts. It was a group of children, ages ranging from five to eight-years old. There was an older woman, maybe middle-aged, most definitely an adult, watching over the children as they played in the small snow-covered park.

Jack landed, silent as the freshly fallen snow, near the almost bare trees that surrounded the tiny playground.

Autumn had held on with the last of her strength but her grip was fading even as Jack spread the first snowfall of the year in the area.

Gently, Jack let more of his snowflakes fall. The tiny white flakes landed on little noses and outstretched tongues. Jack grinned at the excited laughter of the children as they chased the falling snow.

They couldn't see him, this little county was far from Burgess, but Jack knew that it would take some time before more children believed in him.

While Jack was contemplating on whether or not to join the little ones in their play, his eyes wandered over to the adult watching over them.

She was of average height, just a bit taller than the Winter Spirit, much to Jack's displeasure. She was bundled in a long winter coat but had forgone a hat or hood and had stuffed her gloves in one of her pockets. The Wind seemed to enjoy blowing her mid-length dark brown hair around her face. She actually didn't look much different from the other adults Jack had seen…not even remotely as wild as some of the weirder ones.

As if Jack's study of her had caught her attention, the woman turned around. Jack saw that the woman had light brown eyes, almost hazel in shade. Eyes that were suddenly staring right back into his!

Jack made to duck, and then remembered that adults couldn't see spirits. The fact that she was staring in his direction was pure happenstance.

Jack stared at her. She stared right back.

The Guardian of Fun was becoming unnerved…if she wasn't staring at him then what was she looking at? He fought the urge to look behind him.

Then _thankfully_ the woman's attention was drawn from Jack when one of the children toddled over to her, apparently tired of chasing snowflakes.

The woman tucked a few loose hairs back into the boy's hat, automatically making sure he was still well bundled against the chill.

"Wha you wooking at?" the boy asked.

Jack's breath caught in his throat when the woman glanced back right at him.

"There's a lonely boy hiding in the trees." She answered, bending over to pick the little boy up, "He looks quite a bit older than you but shall we ask him if he wasn't to play?"

The boy peered in the direction of the trees, trying to spot the potential playmate. Jack froze, unsure of what exactly was going on.

"I can't see anyone." The little boy pouted.

The woman chuckled, "Let's go a little closer then."

Jack couldn't believe his ears. The woman was a grown-up! She was way too old to have enough belief in the Guardians let alone Jack Frost to be able to see him.

"He looks shy." The woman said quietly, as if sharing a secret with the child in her arms, "If you look closely, you can see his bright blue eyes."

The Guardian of Fun couldn't help himself. Almost subconsciously, he stepped out from behind the tree he was crouching behind.

"Oh. OH!"

Jack saw the moment when the kid's eyes lit up and saw him, felt the surge of one more believer…which was impossible. The kid didn't even know his name.

"I see him. I see you!" the little boy called to Jack, "Come on and pway!"

The rest of the children came over, drawn by the boy's excited shouting. Perhaps it was because they expected to see whatever their playmate had seen but whatever the reason; suddenly they could all see Jack!

And just like that, Jack had another little pack of believers…none of which even knew his name.

With a gentle smile, the woman told them, "Go on. Maybe if you all ask nicely he'll play with you."

Suddenly shy, the children hung back, reluctant to leave the relative safety of the area near their guardian. Then the little boy who first saw him spoke up:

"My name's Bobby. Wha's youws?"

Jack blinked, "Jack. Jack Frost."

"Will you pway with us, Jawk Fwost?"

Jack nodded—then was emotionally floored when the gaggle of children surrounded him, all wanting to know what games he knew. They could see him! They could touch him! He wasn't being walked through…They, oh they _believed_—when just a moment ago they didn't even know his name!

Another look at the woman's warm eyes got him to grin at his new believers.

"I'm Jack Frost, Spirit of Winter and Bringer of Snowballs and Fun Times," he said crouching so he would be on the same level as the children, "There's no game that been invented that I don't know about. But for now…who's up for a snowball fight?"

~ o ~ o ~ o ~

Sometime later, when the children were distracted from the novelty of their new playmate, Jack sidled up to the woman who first saw him, the one who _shouldn't _have seen him, should have been too old to believe.

She had gotten drawn into their game. Her cheeks were tinged pink from play and her breath misted in the cold air.

She grinned at him, still trying to catch her breath and trying to tuck her windblown hair back behind her ears…somehow appearing years younger.

"Thanks." Jack said bluntly, idly swinging his staff.

"For what?" she asked.

"Just thanks." Jack said again, reluctant to tell a stranger just how important the belief of children was to him, how _good_ it felt to be seen.

She smiled at him and somehow Jack knew she understood.

"Well, if you really want to thank me…" she said, just a shade too innocently not to be noticed, "You can tell me a story."

"A story?"

"Yours," she clarified, "So I can tell the children…they're so tired of all my old stories. They're always asking for something new."

And there's just a hint of teasing in her eyes when she glanced at him.

"It helps," she said in a quieter tone, "When stories are told to the little ones. It helps them…believe…"

Jack smiled, "Well, I said I was the Guardian of Fun right? But I didn't start out like that. All I knew that bright winter night some three hundred years ago was that my name is Jack Frost. How did I know that? Well, because the Moon told me so…"

~ o ~ o ~ o ~

Later when Jack had a moment to visit the pole, he told North about the strange woman who could see him…and make children see him too.

"Ah, so you've met her then?" North said.

"You know her?" Jack asked, "Is she a guardian too?"

"No…not a Guardian like you and me are…but a guardian nonetheless; she is human as far as we can tell. No spirit-like abilities. Her name is in the archives somewhere, usually on Nice list…only rarely on Naughty and soon made up for it anyway."

"But who _is_ she? How can she see us? Isn't she too old to believe?"

North looked pensive, and it was a few long moments before he spoke again.

"Children usually lose their faith is us as they grow older. It is the natural way of things. But! Sometimes…sometimes there are _exceptions_, those who retain their belief into adulthood.

"They don't appear on the Globe." North continued, referring to the Globe that twinkled with lights representing each believer on the planet, "They're adults and not under our purview any longer. We have no way to track them.

"Some of them hold on for a few years then let it go, unable to reconcile their childhood beliefs with the harshness of the adult world. The rare few believe until their dying day, spreading belief about us to the next generation through stories and songs.

"The one you met, she is one of those very few. She is one of the rare Exceptions."

Jack left the North Pole filled with curiosity about the Exceptions and in particular the one he met. Even as he let the Wind speed him to his next destination, Jack wondered if he'd ever get to see her again.

Fin.

_Well, I hope you enjoyed that. Leave a review please!_

_Thanks for your time._

_Sparkalie_

_Edit: 07/26/2013_

_So sorry! I just realized that I made a mistake about the town name. It's Burgess not Burke. Haha. Silly me. I've corrected it._

_Sparkalie_


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